Recent trends in laser technology development are characterized by the introduction of small size coherent emitters, such as fiber lasers, as well as high-power semiconductor diode lasers. High output beam power from a laser module is commonly achieved by combining several output beams from the individual emitters into a single output beam.
Various beam combining approaches were developed in the past, including coherent beam combining, spectral beam combining (also known as or wavelength multiplexing), as well as geometrical beam combining. Geometrical beam combining does not require precise phase control, as is in the case of coherent beam combining. It also does not require control of the emission wavelength of the individual combined beams, as compared to spectral beam combining. Therefore, geometrical beam combining represents a cost-effective technique of increasing output power that is relatively easy to implement.
Geometrical beam combining is often applied to high power diode lasers and laser bars. Broad area high power diode laser emitters have emitting apertures with substantially different lateral dimensions, as well as different beam quality and respective beam divergences in the two orthogonal directions. The typical size of an emitting aperture from a broad area high power diode laser in the direction perpendicular to the diode p-n junction plane, also called the fast axis direction, is of the order of 1 micron. The size of an emitting aperture in the diode p-n junction plane, also known as the slow axis direction, is significantly larger, and is typically between 50 and 200 microns. In the fast axis direction the output beam from diode laser emitting apertures exhibits single mode emission with diffraction-limited beam quality. The typical beam divergence angle in the fast axis direction is 300-600. In the slow axis direction the output beam from diode laser emitting apertures exhibits highly multi-mode emission characteristics with reduced beam quality. The typical beam divergence angle from the emitting apertures in the slow axis direction is 60-140. Laser emitter beam quality is inversely proportional to the étendue parameter, which is defined as a product of the emitter lateral size times the far field divergence angle of the emitted beam. The highest, diffraction-limited beam quality is achieved with Gaussian-shaped beams representing the fundamental TEM00 radiation mode □□ The beam quality in the fast axis direction is near diffraction limited and is close to the fundamental TEM00 radiation mode. Emission along the slow axis direction is highly multimode, and the beam quality is approximately 1000-2000 times lower than the diffraction limited beam quality in the fast-axis direction.
To reduce the size and assembly cost of the high power laser modules the broad area diode lasers are often fabricated in the form of emitter arrays, sometimes also called diode bars, which contain several lithographically fabricated individual emitters on a single substrate. The diode bars provide lower cost packaging with significantly higher spatial registration accuracy between the individual emitters, as compared to packaging of an equal number of individual diode laser emitters. A typical commercially available high power diode laser bar contains 19-25 emitters with a lateral emitter spacing, or pitch, of about 0.2 mm-0.5 mm. The fill factor of the diode bar is defined as a ratio of the slow axis aperture size to the emitter spacing. A typical diode bar fill factor ranges between about 0.2 and 0.5. Fill factor less than 1.0 causes degradation of the combined output beam quality in the slow axis direction.
During fabrication process the laser bars are attached to sub-mounts that supply the bars with electrical current and draw away the excessive heat. Due to manufacturing imperfections and packaging stress, the individual emitting apertures within the bar are laterally displaced from a straight line connecting the two emitters at the bar margins. This deviation of the emitting apertures from a straight line, known in the literature as a “smile”, may reach several microns over an emitting apertures spacing of about 10-20 mm.
The differences in the output beam emission characteristics of the high power diode laser emitters lead to highly elongated far field beam patterns. Beam transformation techniques can be employed to reduce the far field beam shape differences of the combined beam in the two orthogonal directions.
Both reflective and refractive techniques may be employed to perform the beam transformations, as shown in several US patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,286,308 describes a reflective arrangement for beam transformation based on total internal reflection in prism arrays. U.S. Pat. No. 7,027,228 describes a refractive arrangement for rotational transformation of the beam based on micro-lens arrays.
The beam transforming optics is often supplied as a monolithic micro-optics block that performs collimation of the emitter beams in the fast axis direction and rotation of the individual collimated beams. Rotational transformation orients the slow axes of the individual emitter beams perpendicular to the p-n junction plane, and the fast axis in the direction of the p-n junction plane of the diodes. After rotational transformation the beam is no longer diffraction limited in the fast axis directions. The beam quality in the fast axis direction is reduced, while the beam quality in the slow axis direction is improved.
The laser beam combiners that perform rotational transformation based on commercially available micro-optics assemblies (e.g., Lissotchenko Mikrooptik beam transformation modules BTS and CBTS series) are highly sensitive to the diode bar smile and component misalignments which occur during the fabrication process. The bar smile and misalignments manifest themselves as the combined beam distortions and reduction in the far field power density.
During the beam-combining process the beam transforming micro-optics module is actively aligned and bonded with respect to the diode bar emitting apertures. Post bonding shifts can cause changes in the module position and orientation with respect to the emitting apertures. The changes lead to an increase in the output combined beam far field divergence and the associated reduction in the far field power density.
While reduction in the power density due to the bar smile and component misalignments can be offset by an increase in the number of combined laser emitters, the larger number of emitters will also lead to an associated increase in the power consumption and the laser module power dissipation. In applications with a limited amount of supplied power the increase in the number of combined emitters, as well as the increase in heat dissipation, is highly undesirable.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a diode laser beam combining module for producing high far field power density of the combined output beam with a limited number of individual laser emitters and reduced power consumption and generated heat.
It would be also desirable to provide a diode laser beam combining and collimation module that produces a far field collimated output beam with comparable divergence values in both the horizontal and the vertical lateral directions.
It would be also desirable to provide a diode laser beam combining and collimation module with a reduced length in the propagating beam direction.